Berry Berry Happy

Scott O'Rouke has taken over this year from John Bragle as Dining Services manager. This personnel change has ushered in a new era in the Wheaton College dinging experience.  My dining experience has become a much more positive one and I believe it has a lot to do with this management change over. The first week of school this year I overheard someone talking to Scott.  They had a complaint: more strawberries in Chase.  The student was explaining at great length the various nutritional benefits of strawberries.  I remember rolling my eyes at overhearing this.  I thought this request was ridiculous.  In my three previous years, I have never seen a fresh strawberry in the dining halls; they are simply too expensive... I thought.

I'm not sure when it was that I first saw them, but ladies and gentlemen, strawberries are now being served in Chase. Fresh, ripe strawberries are being served in Chase dining at Wheaton College. Not long after the first strawberry sightings I tried making a suggestion as well.  I told Scott how much I missed the homefries made with real potatoes.  Recently they have been serving tater-tots or prepackaged frozen potato bites.  The very next morning the real potatoes were there waiting! Now, mind you, I've never asked the dining hall for anything.  I've never voiced any complaints. Never written any emails. Never filled out even a survey.  So far I have been passive in my unhappiness. I never even tried to be heard, I just assumed that I wouldn't be heard.

Scott has only been working with students on campus a few months and I think so far he has been able to change the discourse around Wheaton dining.  So far we've had Lobster Night, Italian catering, fresh strawberries, and many other fun new foodie things.  I'm happy that I've been able to witness this change in command, even if only for a year.  I'm excited to see what's to come.  Ask and you shall receive, Wheaton.  

The Emerson Experience

From my freshman to sophomore year, Emerson slowly evolved from being a run of the mill dining hall to a trendy college café. Emerson used to have a similar dining set up as Chase, it really didn’t matter which dining hall you went to, always getting the same old stir-fry. But now it not only is a daily decision of which one to go to, but it even effects which dining plan a student will choose. Wheaton College student Nina Shepperson ('18) said "I changed my meal plan to make sure I can go to lunch every day at Emerson."

Wheaton College - Emerson Dining Hall
From WheatonCollege.edu

People choose Emerson over Chase for many reasons. Emerson was promised to be “like a Panera” and Wheaton delivered. The Panera like food with the Starbucks coffee gives the perfect combination every college student is looking for when they get hungry or need a good place to study. With a café style and arguably better, healthier options, Chase is no longer an option for lunchtime. This is along with an inviting atmosphere with couches and low lighting that is in stark comparison with Chase’s bright lighting and glaring white design.

Buying a coffee, sitting along a window table, and doing homework with friends has become a common occurrence at Emerson. While it has always been popular at Baflour Hood Café, it has never reached the popularity that is now being seen in Emerson. Therefore although Wheaton lost a dining hall, it gained an experience.

SaveSave

Halal Food at Chase?

Many may or may not know this, but the food at Chase is not Halal as in it is not suitable for Muslim students to eat the food especially if pork based food can get handled between other foods and containers.

Halal Food. Source: http://www.eat-halal.com/

The Return of the Chicken Pesto Panini

A new dining services manager came with this new year, and as a result, the action for change. A few weeks back myself and others emailed Scott O'Rourke, the new dining services manager, about the disturbing absence of an essential aspect of Wheaton dining: The chicken pesto panini at the Davis cafe. One of the highlights of eating at this school, it was nowhere to be found during the beginning of this year. An integral part of my Friday lunches, that panini combined with the clam chowder (only offered that day) made for a weekly routine that ended the stressful week wonderfully. Seeing it no longer offered made me worried to say the least, and I knew that swift action had to be taken.

Receptive to suggestions, Scott O'Rourke responded punctually, stating that the panini was coming back. Apparently the heating press had become unusable in making them. Now heated in the Turbo Chef oven, a more "versatile piece of equipment," paninis are back in full force and I couldn't be happier. My Friday ritual has been reinstated, and for the first time in a long time, it seemed to me that real change at Wheaton dining could really happen.

New buildings for dining and a new person in charge yields new possibilities, and I'm confident that the state of dining will continue to improve here at Wheaton. The events at dining halls this year have been fantastic so far, including a lobster night, smoothie bar, and sushi all being served over the course of just this past month. Guest chefs will make appearances, and our requests have already been heard and dealt with, making the atmosphere of Wheaton and dining here all the better for our student community.

Changing Cultural Food Booth

Since I was a freshman Chase has undergone some serious changes to its menu as well as the physical building itself.  One of the most recent developments in the space has been the food from around the world bar in Chase Square, which changes on a weekly basis and has served Burritos, Bibimbap, Chicken Tika Masala, and Gyros.  Based off of conversations I’ve had with other students on campus in addition to my own participant observation I theorize that the world food booth has been successful because it has filled the paradoxical demand on campus for both food consistency as well as variety.  

The food being offered at Chase during lunch and dinner is generally different everyday and while some food items are always offered, there is not much consistency in what food is available.  However, during high traffic times in Chase around lunch and dinner students are provided a meal that they can customize, similar to the pasta bar, but on a rotation.  I spoke with a junior on campus recently when Chicken Tika Masala was being served who said, “I’m glad they’ve changed to Indian food, I was starting to get tired of bibimbap.”  This sentiment reflects the very way that Chase has accommodated the paradoxical demands of the student body to have both variety and consistency in the food being offered. 

Having already spent a large amount of money on the Wheaton meal plan, having to pay for an outside meal in the Norton area is not very common among the student body.  This makes the changing global food section of chase square a very welcome addition to the Wheaton dining experience because it provides the sense of eating out without the added expense.